A realistic simulation of saccular cerebral aneurysm formation: Focussing on a novel haemodynamic index, the gradient oscillatory number

Although how cerebral aneurysms initiate and grow is still unclear, haemodynamics is thought to play an important role. In order to better understand the aneurysm formation mechanism, we performed a computational analysis of aneurysm formation for a patient-specific arterial geometry. First, CFD was used to perform a pulsatile blood flow analysis and calculate a novel haemodynamic index, the gradient oscillatory number (GON). Then, using aneurysm growth model in which the proliferation of the wall was hypothesised, we performed an aneurysm formation analysis based on the GON index distribution. The result showed that a saccular cerebral aneurysm could appear based on our hypothesis for a patient-specific arterial geometry. On the other hand, a saccular aneurysm was not observed when assuming only strength degradation of the wall. Our findings have suggested that an arterial biological process, such as the proliferation of the wall, may play a vital role in saccular aneurysm formation.